Five points clear at a canter

A very comfortable win at Old Trafford last night in a game that saw Paul Scholes rolling back the years with an excellent performance in a crowded midfield.

His goal will remind many of his stunning strike against Bradford all those years ago when Beckham picked him out on the edge of the area from a corner and the Ginger Prince hit what is possibly the best goal of his career, though Scholes himself claims his best is his volley against Villa a couple of years back. Schwarzer should have done better but it is always wise to test a goalkeeper early doors and this clear unsettled the normally reliable Aussie.

The second goal was another master class by Scholes, streaming the ball wide to the right with the most beautiful of passes with the outside of his right boot, before a brief passage of play that saw the ball eventually finding its way across the box for Berbatov to tap in, albeit via another Schwarzer howler as he completely misjudged the ball in.

By this point the game was over and both teams seemed happy enough to play out the rest of the game at a leisurely pace. On another day Berbatov would be disappointed to have missed a couple of good chances but they were academic here.

Wayne Rooney's long awaited return was capped with a goal only seconds after joining the action, as Ji Sung Park's woefully miscued shot turned into the perfect cross for the returning forward tom ghost through the away defence and tap in at the back post. His return will be a worry for Carlos Tevez who has not taken his chance to claim a spot in the team with too many poor performances and little goal return.

There were a couple of shouts for handballs against Vidic in the box, one looking ominous but on replay was probably too high up to hold him at any fault, but other than that there was no real trouble for Van Der Sar as the back four extended the record of league clean sheets to 14 in a row. We have also won the last ten games in all competitions since losing at Pride Park in the first leg of the Carling Semi.

One bookie is already paying out on the domestic treble, which in my opinion is ridiculous business but shows just how strongly we are viewed at present. The next few weeks can really make or break our season.